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the acquisition of what will prove a golden key to the treasures of their favorite Sophocles. A lexicon to the productions of this prince of tragic poets, has always been a great desideratum with the classical scholar; for Brunck's is only an approximation towards one, and Beatson's is a mere verbal index. Professor Ellendt has, therefore, fairly entitled himself, by the present publication, to the thanks of every scholar. The title of the work is a Lexicon to Sophocles, but our readers will labor under a very erroneous impression if they take this appellation in its literal sense, and suppose that they have here merely an alphabetical arrangement of the terms that occur in the dramas of Sophocles, with a word or two explanatory of their meaning. On the contrary, the true name of the work would seem rather to be, a digest of the several commentaries on the poet in question, in which the results of learned and laborious investigations are briefly and succinctly given, and references at the same time made to collateral authorities. A specimen, however, of the work itself, will best explain our meaning. It has been selected almost at random :

Ελλας. 1. Τerram Graciam significat. Ελλάδος γῆς, Phil. 256. πόλιν σθένου σαν, εἴ τιν' Ελλάδος, μέγα, Oed. Col. 738. ώ τλῆμον Ἑλλάς, Tr. 1102. τὸ κλεινὸν Ελλάδος στράτευμα, El. 684. Et sic explicandum τὸ κλεινὸν Ἑλλάδος πρόσχημ ̓ ἀγῶνος, El. 671, in quo exemplo 'EXλádos ayvos conjuncturus erat Brunckius V. Herm. -(2) Adjective de re Græca qualicunque, oxñμa 'Edλádos σrodñs, Phil. 223. Duo vocabuli exempla reliqua sunt aliquantum dubitabilia, σὔθ' Ελλὰς οὔτ ̓ ἄγλωσσος οὔθ ̓ ὅστην ἐγὼ γαῖαν καθαίρων ἱκόμην ἔδρασέ πω, Trach. 1049, ἄγλωσσος pro βάρβαρος, nove dictum esse manifestum, et insequens yatav suadet ut hoc in unum conjungantur, et 'Exλás et ayλwoσos unum subjectum habeant yn. Sed Antiatt. Bekk. p. 97, 4. scribit: Ελλάς ὁ ἀνήρ. Σοφοκλῆς Αἴαντι Λοκρῷ (vii. 17 D.); itaque etiam illum Trachiniarum locum intelligi et Brunckius vult, advocans diversissima 'EXλàs oron et similia, in quibus non major in est licentia quam in Exxas y, et Hermannus ad Eur. Iph. Taur. 334., qui quod exemplum profert Eur. Phoen. 1513, id Sophocle illi simillimum etiam in eo est, quod synesis yn in utrumque cadit. Diversa contulere Intpp. Greg. Cor. p. 108, nec in copiis Lobeckii ad Aj. 323, p. 272, quidquam tale extat; Antiatticista autem impudenter mendaci ut novitiorum scriptorum peccata excuset, nihil credo. Jure igitur a Sophocle eam libertatem abjudicat Bemhardy Synt. p. 48., sed plane immemor doctrinæ de nominibus impari genere componendis a Lobeckio 1. c. inchoatæ docte, mox eam, ut speramus, absolutissima doctrina exsecuturo.

We are sorry to find, from Professor Ellendt's preface, that favoritism is beginning to show its head within the precincts of German scholarship, and that those pests of all sound learning, "nec ingenio nec doctrina commendati homines," have managed to take very good care of themselves, within the sphere of our author's observation, to We hope for the the detriment of real but more unobtrusive merit. credit of that learning which has hitherto made Germany its abiding place, that the complaints of Professor Ellendt, in this particular, are merely the offspring of what would appear to be his own morbid feelings, and not sober realities. The conclusion of his preface, however, is desponding enough: "Talia quin animum frangant viresque debilitant cum fieri vix possit, lectores oro, ut ignoscant, quod serius, quam promiseram, liber meus in lucem publicam emittitur."

3.-Lexicon Platonicum, sive Vocum Platonicarum Index. Condidit D. FRIDERICUS ASTIUS. Vol. ii. fasc. 1. Vol. ii. fasc. 1. Zyra-Kλiva. Lipsia. Ζῆτα-Κλίνω. 1836. In Libraria Weidmanniana.

PROFESSOR AST is already most favorably known by his edition of Plato's works, now in a course of publication; and of which the Lexicon here noticed is to form a part. Ast's Platonic Lexicon resembles a verbal index much more than Ellendt's Lexicon to Sophocles, mentioned in the preceding article, but this is owing to the circumstance of the editor having reserved for his commentary much that would otherwise have appeared in the present work. To quote the words of the Professor," Immensi operis ne immensa existeret moles, brevi. tati ita consului, ut nihil quidem prætermitterem quod ad sermonen Platonicum illustrandum videretur pertinere, rerum autem explanatione locorum similium comparatione variarumque lectionum censura plane abstinerem." This is all, no doubt, very well, yet still we could have wished occasionally to see more of the "explanatio" and somewhat less of the "brevitas." For example; under the head of aixía we might have had the distinction briefly stated between αἰκίας δίκη and ὕβρεως δίκη which Timæus in his Platonic Lexicon has confounded together, a negligence that can find no excuse, although Meier, in his Attische Process, p. 548, has sought to defend it. Under dxwváxns, the remark of Pollux, lib. 1. sect. 138, ought to have been given Περσικόν ξιφιδιόν τι, κ. τ. λ. in order to correct the vulgar error that the dxwáxns was a species of scimetar. So again, under drovesv, some notice might have been taken of Gottling's inaccuracy (ad Aristot. Polit. 2. 2. p. 316), when he seeks to naturalize oudev, and gives it the force of vel maxime. change of meaning in dwpodóxos, among later writers, should also have been mentioned, in order to prevent any erroneous application of that meaning to the text of Plato. We would have been pleased also, to see under the head of popos, the error of Timæus distinctly noted, where he says, Έφοροι, πέντε μείζους καὶ πέντε ἐλάττους. Mueller's remark (Prolegom. p. 430) places the matter in its true light: “Es ist klar dass die 5 kleinen ephoren bei Timæus blos Gehulfen der Ersteren waren, welche die immer zunehmende Wichtigkeit des Amtes noethig machte und nichts für die ursprungliche Anordnung beweisen."

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While on this subject, we cannot refrain from recommending, in addition to Ast's work, the Platonic Lexicon compiled by Mr. Mitchell, the well known translator and editor of Aristophanes. It is executed with great ability, and affords, along with Ast's compilation, a sufficient answer to the complaint of the London editor of the Variorum Plato, that the age Διδύμων τῶν χαλκεντέρων had passed away.

4. Lexilogus, or a Critical Examination of the meaning, and etymology of numerous Greek words and passages; intended principally for Homer and Hesiod. By PHILIP BUTTMANN, L. L. D. Translated and edited by the Rev. J. R. FISHLAKE, late Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford. London: John Murray, Albemarle Street. 1836. 8vo. pp. 597.

BUTTMANN's name is already well known on this side of the Atlan tic by his excellent grammars of the Greek language, which the labors of two of our countrymen have rendered accessible to every American scholar. The present work, however, presents him in a far higher character, as a sound and accurate critic on the earlier and more obscure forms of the same noble tongue. We hail its ap. pearance in our English dress with sincere pleasure, and regard it as putting an effectual end to the reign of Homeric pedantry, and dismissing that bane of true scholarship, the Clavis Homerica, to its ori. ginal obscurity. Nothing can be more erroneous than the notion which so many of our students appear to entertain, that the Greek poets, especially the earlier ones, were enabled by the aid of such mysterious figures as Apocope, Apharesis, Paragoge, &c. to clip and trim their native tongue with the same facility that a Dutch gardener does his alleys of box. So again with regard to the dialects; it is still firmly believed by a large number, that Homer brought into his poems every dialectic form that struck his fancy or suited his verse. How would Milton or Shakspeare look, if such a principle had been adopted by either of them, and if all manner of words had been employed, from the various provincial dialects of England? Buttmann's work brings us into a purer atmosphere, and inculcates sounder doctrines.

The author very modestly entitled his work, in the original, a "Lexilogus, or Helps in the explanation of Greek words, intended principally for Homer and Hesiod." His English editor, fearing lest so indefinite a title might induce a belief of the treatise being merely an elementary book for younger students, very properly altered the appellation of the work to one more declaratory of its true character. It affords valuable aid, in fact, to every reader of Homer, and every student of one of the noblest of languages; and no one can after this lay claim to the character of sound and accurate scholarship without having made himself master of its contents.

If, where all is so highly entitled to praise, it might be allowed us to find any fault, it would be on account of the absence of Sanscrit etymologies. When Buttmann wrote his Lexilogus, the study of the Sanscrit language and literature was yet in its infancy. At the present day, however, it attracts so much attention, and throws so much light on the earlier forms of the Greek and Latin tongues, that the translator of the work before us ought not to have passed it by unnoticed. A vast mine remains still to be explored in this department of Homeric philology, and the day we trust is not far distant, when the

bard of Ionia will derive new and ample illustrations from the forms of the Sanscrit tongue. A very able commencement, as regards the Sanscrit origin of several of the Greek particles, has been made by Hartung, in his "Lehre von den Partikeln der griechischen Sprache," the first volume of which appeared at Erlangen, in 1832.

5. Mogg Megone, a poem. By JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER. Boston: Light and Stearns, 1836. 32 mo. pp. 69.

We took up this little volume at a chance passage, and thought ourselves for the moment in the stir and bustle of Marmion, or the Lady of the Lake. Mr. Whittier has adapted the metre, and to a certain extent, not slavishly, the style of Scott to some striking incidents of Indian life. Without, however, entering into the narrative part of Mogg Megone, which appears to us harsh and unpleasant, we prefer doing justice to the more poetic passages of description and reflection, that are profusely scattered along the work. One trait of pure human feeling outvalues the whole chronicle of Indian treachery and cruelty. Thus the true interest of the poem lies in the history related by herself of a youthful maiden. It shall be mostly given in the words of the author. Ruth Bonython, for so is the heroine called, commences her tale with the recollection of her dying mother. Slowly, day by day, had she watched the pulse of life as it beat more and more feebly to its extinction. She remembers that parent's look, and recalls the favorite tales she told in life.

Tales of the pure-the good-the wise-
The holy men and maids of old,

In the all-sacred pages told.

But the hallowed influence of the mother over her daughter, passes away with the breath that enforced the lesson. The wild excitement of Indian life soon obliterates the early taught piety-and she falls a victim to love. A sudden yielding to passion amidst the lawless wilderness procures her the scalp of her betrayer. But revenge cannot With rather an unnec cast out quite the hold of woman's affection.

essary accumulation of horrors on the part of our author, she slays the Indian who had perpetrated the deed, and now she is standing in a rude forest temple before the priest of religion-a victim of remorse. The vision of her mother had seemed before her to point with a keener sharpness the sorrows of repentance.

The Jesuit shrinks from her, for she has killed in the chief a great defender of the church in that unsettled country. She is spurned from the altar.

Ever thus the spirit must,
Guilty in the sight of Heaven,
With a keener woe be riven,
For its weak and sinful trust

In the strength of human dust;
And its anguish thrill afresh,
For each vain reliance given

To the failing arm of flesh.

She wanders alone in her wretchedness, unprotected of this world, but not of heaven.

Still, though earth and man discard thee,

Doth thy heavenly Father guard thee-
He who spared the guilty Cain,

Even when a brother's blood,
Crying in the ear of God,

Gave the earth its primal stain-
He whose mercy ever liveth,
Who repenting guilt forgiveth,
And the broken heart receiveth;-
Wanderer of the wilderness,

Haunted, guilty, crazed and wild,
He regardeth thy distress,

And careth for his sinful child!

The following scene closes the poem.

Blessed Mary! who is she

Leaning against that maple tree?
The sun upon her face seems hot,
But the fixed eyelid burns not;

The squirrel's chirp is shrill and clear
From the dry bough above her ear;
Dashing from rock and root its spray,
Close at her feet the river rushes;

The black-bird's wing against her brushes,
And sweetly through the hazel bushes
The robin's mellow music gushes;-

God save her! will she sleep alway?

Castine hath bent him over the sleeper:

"Wake, daughter-wake!"-but she stirs no limb:

The eye that looks on him is fixed and dim;

And the sleep she is sleeping shall be no deeper,

Until the angel's oath is said,

And the final blast of the trump gone forth

To the graves of the sea and the graves of earth,
Ruth Bonython is dead!

The story of the piece is loosely constructed and lacks the completeness of a perfect poem: indeed, it serves little more than a rude setting to protect several poetic thoughts and fancies. There is too little pretence in the volume to subject it to the criticism it might else have provoked: while this modest style renders its actual merits the more conspicuous. It may be taken as a slight, but not the less valuable token that the poetic spirit is not totally extinct among us; that the unworthy strife for money has not alienated us wholly from the Muses. There is evidence in it of talent, that if carefully husbanded and directed to some more important end will yet do honor to the author. Here is a well wrought passage that must leave a favorable impression of Mr. Whittier; it illustrates a fine perception of the

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